September ~ revisiting Alaska

Earlier this month excitement came in the form of confirmation that I'll be heading back to Alaska again, shortly. I'm less likely to make as many winter images as in the warmer months, but it will be a nice visit.

I never worked on this image after coming back - overall, the results of waterfall images from just outside Valdez disappointed me at first viewing, but this one has some success. These are the Bridal Veil falls, or something similar.


Gear: Nikon D90, Yashica-D, Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.4, manfrotto legs/head

August 17 ~ Dusk at Island Lake

Made at the end of a lovely day off (an afternoon at the zoo began in a foul mood from the heat and crowds, followed by peace creeping in at the butterfly garden, to a Japanese garden where solitude reigned supreme, and then a coffee shop for delectable blended chai + book enjoyment), this image turned out softer than intended, so I emphasized those features from the Raw data. Focusing on the TLR's viewfinder screen can be a futile endeavor. In this case, I prefer the final result to a sharper one. Colors were also adjusted to hint at the forthcoming sunset which I later shot from the other side of the lake.

Gear: Nikon D90, Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.4, Yashica TLR, Manfrotto legs/head

July 15 - 31 ~ Alaska overflow

It would be pleasant to announce the full editing of all the recent Alaska trip photos, but, alas, that may take a few days. 1000 images need to be culled and, depending upon ideas, blended or otherwise adjusted. Because there are so many there should be plenty to cover the next few days as well as the two weeks during which they were made.

In the meantime, here's a taste of subjects:

Birch Hill
a forested area near Bobb's cabin
TTV photography galore
panoramas (should that be panorami?)
an area about 85 miles north of Fairbanks ("12 mile road"?)
HDRI
Angel Rocks (in Chena Recreation Area)
abstract light and color play
macro (nature)
faux fisheye
a cat's kill
a bit of area around UAF (Botanical Gardens and Large Animal Research)
the road from Fairbanks to Chicken
the road from Chicken to Valdez
Valdez
the road from Valdez to Fairbanks

Overflow of imagery~




I particularly enjoy the shades in this shot. The full color version didn't strike as much as it does reduced to quieter elements.
Remember to click on pics for an enlarged view.


These plants were everywhere, and the magenta color kept catching my eye. I've contemplated removing the water drop to increase movement around the composition.

The plants' softness worked wonderfully with evening light.


We happened upon Valdez on a very nice day. Not shown in this image was the amazing amount of--what appeared to be--cottonwood fluffs floating around. Our lunch waitress referred to them as "fairies."


While traveling, I was thinking of some ideas for future series. Some of them have been mulling about for a while. Staring out the window of a moving vehicle, watching the road approach and recede, clears my head. They have not all been implemented, but will be.

What marks a person in a place? What do we know about someone from where they've been or what they've left? Conversely, what can be inferred about the place in which the remains wait? Images of these fragments will be a series of Remnants. An example of this series may be viewed here. At least one more will likely be uploaded this month.

Seeing a place takes time. I make pictures of many landscapes simply because the vast sublime is so appealing, but a vista of hills and mountains does not describe the whole. While visiting Alaska for the first time, two and a half years ago, a stark contrast emerged between the glossy tourist facade and the quieter, hidden environment. Often, such areas appear neglected or completely abandoned. These images will be the blend of the real with the ideal. I would rather they be an exploration than an exploitation, documenting what exists within an environment.  In some cases these photographs may overlap with the Remnants series, where clues about a place may be inferred from casual remains.  At other times, these images may be portraits or something completely different.  They are not limited to the sad and lonely, though those facets may be uncovered.  Imagine a rusted car growing out of the corner of a scenic view pullout, looming in the foreground against a mountainous backdrop. The background is what many observe, but everything has its position in describing a place—its whole history, present and future.
How much of your tourism experience is your own, and how much is it directed by someone else? Who decides what's scenic, worth viewing? In the words of Bobb, as we passed a sign indicating a pullout in 1500 feet, "oh goody, finally something pretty to look at." I like the signs that are just camera icons and distance, as they're a great shorthand for the message: ideal picture, just around the bend (or, here's the spot where it's been decided that you can safely pull over to make the picture you've been itching to create for the past few miles). This series will document scenic view indicators paired with the site one is supposed to appreciate.

June 28-29 ~ The Oldest Tree in Minneapolis

An estimated 300+ year old oak tree on Franklin Terrace is slated for removal this autumn. The tree, just off Franklin Avenue in the Seward neighborhood by West River Parkway, did not bud this year. Community members have suggested a memorial sculpture and replacement sapling. You can read a City Pages 1996 article about the tree, here, where a citizen is quoted speculating that it could last another day, five years or fifty. Well, it made it fourteen.



Remnants: Someone left behind a bracelet.

A group of children ran toward the tree just as my friend JP and I finished making images.


*these images were made on July 19th; that post date is slated for Alaskan overflow imagery
Gear: Nikon D90, Nikkor AFD 50mm f/1.4, Tokina 12-24mm, Yashica-D, Manfrotto legs/head

June 24 ~ Lake Calhoun

Continuing with my renewed interest in TTV photography, here are some shots made on Lake Calhoun, near sunset. Many characters roamed around the farmer's market downtown today, but I was distracted by food and didn't return to work on visuals, and portraiture didn't catch my fancy at this location.

A story, however: Training wheels in place, a child pedaled her first bike next to her jogging daddy. He told her it was good exercise for her legs. She replied that it was also exercise for her arms. Amused, he asked why. "Because I'm holding on so tight!"




Top image shows a fifty percent desaturation, while the bottom photograph--ghostly implying that, yes, people were wandering around--is tinted a slight six percent warm monochrome.


Gear: Nikon D90, Nikkor AFD 50mm f/1.4, Yashica-D, manfrotto legs/head, cardboard square tube (this enables shooting the TLR's viewfinder with the DSLR and earns curious looks from passersby)

June 23 ~ and the cotton is high

more summer scenes on a hot sunny day, cooling it in the shade




Gear: Nikon D90, Nikkor AFD 50mm f/1.4, Yashica-D

June 22 ~ the fish are jumpin'

Lazy summer afternoon. Temperatures exceeded 90, but a few cool breezes teased the shore of the Mississippi.






Gear: Nikon D90, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, Yashica-D

June 21 ~ and the livin' is easy

Yesterday didn't afford the chance of shooting these pics, but today was a prototypical summer day with beautiful heat not gently creeping, but slamming into our consciousness. Solstice, you have arrived.




Soon I'll be able to cycle to work again. Folks along the West River Parkway were out en force, on foot and wheels.


Gear: Nikon D90, Nikkor AFD 50mm f/1.4, Yashica-D

June (18-)20 ~ longest light (summertime....)

Light beamed through the trees, sweeping across a valley, around 8pm on the eve of the summer solstice.







I dusted off the TLR to create a crudely stitched panorama out of four images, shown above. The awkward blend of the images was sought, however I did make use of CS5's new content-aware fill on a few areas (note the missing red guide lines). Two original images of the focus screen follow (notice their backward orientation, which is true to the file, but flipped from real life). Directly below the stitched concoction is a simpler wide angle image of the scene, while the final image is a vertical shot through a diffusion filter for a softer look, and then tinted a warm monochrome.


Gear: Nikon D90, Yashica-D, Nikkor AFD 50mm f/1.4, Tokina 12-24mm f/4, Manfrotto legs/head, diffusion filter

January 7 ~ mittens

Shooting through a TLR with a DSLR is tricky, at least with a lens with a focus distance of twelve inches. Because I wanted to shoot intimate imagery rather than the room at large, I also needed to use close focus filters in front of the TLR lens.

Over the past few years I've become more interested in camera gear despite my general luddite tendencies, however I still often comment that my overall interest in the art of the composition overrides the technical bits enough to make me wish I were a painter. However, my sometimes impetuous bent favors the instant gratification of photography, where I can stretch and build creative muscles quickly. I also often use what's available and improvise rather than doing things "properly." The previous statements may seem to contradict what I've written in my profile about film teaching slowness, but there's room for careful consideration to sleep with eager trial and error.

In this case, shooting was tricky enough without having to hold the incorrect diameter focus filters in one hand, but, that's life. I have a 49mm set that were used for my 50mm 1.8 Pentax lens, and they've worked fine all month with various projects involving different diameter lenses. I wanted to make the picture then, rather than investing in another set of filters later, so I made it work. Subsequently, shooting this image had me checking focus, flicking to manual focus in order to protect the lens motor while it was halfway encased in the aperture of the foot-long cardboard connecting "contraption" tube, and generally handling the DSLR with one hand while the other hand stretched to hold the close focus filter stack in front of the TLR lens (I could not fashion a method to keep them in place). The TLR was also mounted on a tripod to hold the entire getup steady, which meant some neck craning was involved.

There's room for improvement on that method, but, it makes a funny mental image. And, the resulting photograph doesn't give away a hint of the chaos involved in its creation. I adjusted the saturation to enhance the aged feel and decrease the presence of the TLR's focus screen grid.

Gear: Yashica-D TLR, Nikon D90, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, close-focus filters, Manfrotto legs/head, cardboard, electrical tape

January 6 ~ TTV photography

On the recommendation of a friend, I picked up the book Camera Creative by Chris Gatcum. The author writes from a pleasant aesthetic and his project suggestions are stimulating. Shooting through a TLR viewfinder with a DSLR has crossed my mind, but didn't fully formulate until I saw it outlined in this book.

Last spring I acquired a Yashica-D TLR, and had not gotten around to shooting with it yet; this was one of the first photographs I've made with that camera. Due to its nostalgic feel, I chose my grandmother's bracelet as the subject. I didn't start wearing the bracelet until recently because its clasp wasn't holding in place, but I fixed it (enough) to start giving it some proper use again, and it often elicits comments from strangers.

This photograph was made with a Yashica-D TLR, Nikon D90 DSLR, Nikkor AFD 50mm f/1.4 lens, close-focus filters, cardboard and electrical tape.